Customers charged £6 premium rate for ringing Yorkshire Water offered refund

It comes after the water firm contacted the Phone-Paid Service Authority (PSA), after receiving a complaint from a customer.

The PSA upheld YW’s complaint after finding websites quoting premium-rate numbers for customers to call the company.

The official number is a local rate 0345 number, but some customers were unwittingly using the call connection service and being charged £6 per connection.

The PSA cited four breaches relating to call connection services operating on the number range 0901 545* and 09011 506*.

A statement from the PSA to Yorkshire Water read: “The provider has agreed to provide refunds to consumers who make a valid claim.

“Should you wish to discuss a refund you will need to contact the provider directly.”

It said customers may be asked to provide a copy of a phone bill highlighting the relevant premium rate charges before a refund is issued.

A spokesperson from Yorkshire Water said: “We are pleased with this outcome.

“We have lots of free ways that our customers can contact us via our website. They can use live chat, request a free call back with a precise 10 minute slot that suits them, or they can talk to us via Twitter and Facebook.

“If they do need to phone us, we have a local rate 0345 number to use.

“We object to these call connection service charges for a simple phone call to us which can be made direct to us and charged at a local rate.”

In April 2017, the PSA issued a £645,000 fine to a similar call connection company called DK Call which charged customers £3.60 per minute to call well-known organisations such as Sky and HMRC